The History of DUI Laws in America

The History of DUI Laws in America

Posted By
Brockton D. Hunter

As our nation has evolved, so has the formation and evolution of various
laws and regulations. Driving under the influence (DUI) laws are no exception to this truth. Throughout the United States, each
state is allowed to create, pass and enforce their own DUI laws. A DUI
will not only affect your driving record, it will comes with criminal
and financial penalties as well.

1910s

New York was the first state in America to create a law against drunk driving
in 1910. Following the lead of the eastern state, California became the
next state to legislate drinking and driving, and they passed a law specifically
addressing driving under the influence of alcohol. Once these two states
took this initiative, all of the states that fell between their borders
were quick to pass their own legislation as well.

While the states rallied to pass laws against drinking and driving, the
laws tended to be fairly general in concept and there were no clear definitions
of what exactly “drunk driving” was. Today, each state has
different levels of driving under the influence, with different criminal
and financial repercussions for each.

1930s

Around the 1930s, road safety became an area of concern nationally and
two major national organizations undertook causes and studies to boost
safer travel on the roads throughout the United States.

The American Medical Association put together a task force that studied
the factors that were most likely to result in auto accidents or injuries
from automobiles. In the meantime, the National Safety Council began to
research and develop criteria that was intended to both test for intoxication
as well as measure the level of intoxication that a person was under.

The end-result of these co-existing panels was that a national standard
was set regarding inebriation levels and drunk driving. In 1938, the legal
limit for blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was set. These two organizations
suggested that a driver with a BAC of .15 or more could safely be assumed
to be drunk, while anyone with less than that was not.

1970s

During the 1970s, as it became more and more common for individuals to
own cars, drunk driving laws began to change, both adding levels of intoxication
to laws, and making the laws regarding drunk driving more strict. During
this time period, DUI laws changed greatly, and the legal drinking age
was raised from 18 to 21 throughout the United States.

Focus on drunk driving laws made enforcement of these laws critical nationwide
and led to a change in the legal limit from .15 to .10 in the 1980s. During
the 1990s, the legal limit was once again lowered, this time to .08 BAC.

Modern Laws

Since the ‘90s, most states have created stricter laws regarding
DUI and drunk driving offenses, including the adoption of what are called “Zero Tolerance” laws, meaning that minors who were found to have any level of alcohol
in their blood were automatically charged with a DUI.

Nationally-prominent organizations formed to combat drinking and driving
have held strong power within the legal make-up and enforcement of DUI
and drunk driving laws throughout the United States, and continue to play
a role in keeping the issue on the forefront of importance with regard
to police departments and legislation.